On the 21st of October 2022, The Critical Minerals Association (CMA) and Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) teamed up to host a panel discussion webinar, followed by a closed-door workshop on the Circular Economy of Critical Minerals at Burlington House, London. The webinar featured informative talks on multiple, diverse aspects of the circular economy from geological circular economy and tailings to R&D, finance and legislation. The expert speakers and panel were: Professor Jacqui Murray (Britishloop), Cameron Dowling (ARCH), Dr Andy Rees OBE (Welsh Government), Professor Robert Lee (Met4Tech) and Dr Eva Marquis (Met4Tech).
The speakers focused on topics such as: battery research and development in the circular economy, how legislation impacts the circular economy, how Wales is financing ground-breaking work in recycling, and the use of tailings and geological circular economy. While these fields are diverse, every part of the circular economy was expertly covered in this livestreamed discussion.
Following the presentations, the CMA & RSC held a series of closed-door workshops on each of the topics with expert attendees to highlight the challenges and create recommendations and opportunities for the development of a circular economy in the UK. The small working groups focused on harmonising legislation and how the current legislation hinders circular economy, the economic viability and challenges of geological circular economy and use of tailings as a secondary resource, commercialising R&D to develop new circular economy technologies, waste management and collection and importantly, how the circular economy would be financed.
These group sessions not only compiled expert knowledge on the circular economy, but also created links between academia, government and industry to advance work in novel practices. It was great to see so much interest for a circular economy of critical minerals across a range of fields!
The event was a huge success, with over 70 online attendees and more than 30 workshop attendees. Thank you to everyone who took part for a fantastic and informative day.
Watch the webinar here:
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Article by Becca Kirk, Camborne School of Mines & Events Coordinator, CMA.